現代の古武道を捉える人類学的視点の探求

抄録

This paper aims to discuss the potential of anthropological approaches and their concepts for studying contemporary Kobudo (traditional martial ways), traditional martial arts disciplines still practiced in modern Japan. Today, many traditional martial arts are practiced worldwide, and several of them have been registered on the UNESCO World Intangible Cultural Heritage List. Therefore, there has been a growing movement abroad to consider the traditional martial arts of various regions as intangible cultural heritage. There is also a growing movement in Japan to regard traditional martial arts, known as Budo or Kobudo, as intangible cultural heritage/properties. Notably, the groups advocating Budo in Japan asked the government to add an article concerning Kobudo to the Law for the Protection of Culture Properties. Some local governments have established committees for Budo (and Kobudo) UNESCO heritage listing in recent years. Based on observations of these committees, there have been attempts to emphasize a connection between martial arts and the local history and lifestyle of the respective areas. However, there has been little research on the actual connection; thus, previous research has not been able to contribute to these movements. Therefore, from the perspective of supporting Kobudo’s registration as an intangible cultural heritage, further critical research on the actual connection between the martial arts and the local history and lifestyle of the specific area is needed. In this paper, we focused on the anthropological approach because anthropology is a discipline that pursues the connection between the culture and local history and lifestyle of an area. Then, we examined the anthropological approaches and their concepts that can be used to study contemporary Kobudo. Based on our research of anthropological approaches and their concepts, we concluded that the following three approaches provided valuable perspectives in the study of contemporary Kobudo: (1) Anthropology of Heritage, (2) Medical Anthropology, and (3) Ecological Anthropology. Therefore, these three approaches and their concepts should be considered in the study of contemporary Kobudo.